Urban occupation and confronting violence against women

is Tina Martins Women's Reference House, in Belo Horizonte, MG-Brazil, an example of transformative urban praxis?

Abstract

This article focuses on the support actions for women in situations of violence promoted by the Tina Martins Women's Reference House, in Belo Horizonte - MG - Brazil. This collective space that acts in the reception and shelter of women, originated from an urban occupation, organized on March 8, 2016, by an articulation between feminist and urban social movements, which operate beyond the State. Since June 3, 2016, the occupation has been consolidated as a Women's Reference House, establishing its own ways of acting in the fight against violence against women. In this work, we seek to carry out an analysis of this experience, through empirical data obtained, between 2019 and 2020, in interviews with members of the movement and participant observation in activities carried out in the space of Casa Tina Martins, in addition to the bibliographic review of works that also thematize this movement. From this, we build an “empirical-theoretical” reflection on what is needed for a woman under violence to have quality support to emancipate herself, protect herself and obtain a dignified life – with emphasis on the role of the struggle for space and for the “right to the city” in this conquest. We also seek to reflect on a broad scale, on the role of the struggle for space in the process of breaking up social structures, linked to gender, race and class, which give rise to and perpetuate the violence to which women are subjected. Based on these reflections, we raise a question: to what extent does the form of space appropriation carried out by this specific social organization of women, based on collectivity and true social use of urban space, inaugurate a new form of urban spatial praxis? We believe that Tina Martins, by constituting itself as a form of “spatial praxis to face violence against women”, will be able to inspire actions in other contexts.